The Presbyters Project

Canon 25

Si quis res ecclesiae debetas uel proprias sacerdotes orrendae copiditatis instinctu occupauerit, retenuerit aut a potestate ex conpeticione perceperit, se, ut eas non restituat, nullis rebus excusit; sed si agnito iure ecclesiastico non statim ecclesiae uel sacerdoti reformauerit aut, ut ipsum ius agnoscire possit, in iudicio electorum uenire distulerit, tamdiu a cummunione ecclesiastica suspendatur, quamdio ristitutis rebus tam ecclisiam quam sacerdotem reddat indemnem. Similis etiam his, qui oblationis defunctorum legaliter dimissas quolibit ordine adsignare tardauerint uel retenere praesumpserint, districtionis ecclesiasticae iuxta prioris canonis furma seruetur. Cui etiam sententiae subiacebit, quisquis ille quolibet ordine, quod pro deuotione sua ecclesiis dedit, reuocare praesumpserit.

(ed. de Clercq 1963: 123-124)

Canon 25

If someone, instigated by despicable greed, occupies, holds, or seizes by force in a quarrel the property of the Church or of the priests themselves, he cannot justify his actions by any excuses until he returns what he had taken. Therefore, if he does not reinstate the Church or the priest immediately after recognising [that he has violated] the ecclesiastical law, or, having learned of this law, postpones going to the selected judges, he will be deprived of the ecclesiastic communion as long as he does not return the property intact to the Church as well as to the priest. Similarly, for those too, who obstruct the transfer of the offerings made legally by the deceased of whatever rank, or dare to keep them, the same ecclesiastical strictness in accord with the form of previous canons should be applied. The same sentence will also be imposed on anyone of whatever rank who would dare to revoke what he had given as a token of his devotion to the Churches.

(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Orléans

About the source:

Title: The Third Council of Orléans, Concilium Aurelianense III anno 538
Origin: Orléans (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

This council convened on 7 May 538 in Orléans gathered five metropolitans, fourteen other bishops, and seven presbyters representing their bishops. They all came from the kingdoms of Childebert I or Theuderic I. No bishop from the kingdom of Clothar I participated. Apart from the Council of Agde (AD 506), this is the only one from this period that gathered a metropolitan bishop from every region represented in the synod by a bishop or a presbyter. The council was presided by metropolitan bishop of Lyon, all of whose suffragans were present. Similarly, all bishops from the metropolitan province of Rouen attended the synod.

Edition:

C. de Clercq ed., Concilia Galliae a. 511-a. 695, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 148 A, Turnhout 1963.

Translation:

J. Gaudemet, B. Basdevant, Les canons des conciles mérovingiens VIe-VIIe siècles, Sources chrétiennes 353, Paris 1989.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Economic status and activity - Ownership or possession of land

Economic status and activity - Gift

Economic status and activity - Inheritance

Conflict

Private law - Ecclesiastical

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1324, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1324